Programme approaches and aid delivery mechanisms
There is a substantial gap between knowledge about maternal and newborn health and actual practice - a key factor in the continuing high levels of maternal and neonatal mortality. International and national efforts have been constantly reviewed and upgraded to address this problem.
The current focus is on reducing gender inequalities and poverty, and promoting women's education and nutritional status. Efforts are also being made to provide professional care during pregnancy and childbirth, build effective referral systems, and ensure that all women have access to maternal and newborn care. These issues are being taken up by specific sector programmes and are also being integrated into larger national level processes such as poverty reduction strategies.
- Women's health groups to improve perinatal care in Nepal
- Two articles examine the development of women's groups in rural Nepal as a way of reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. The BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth article describes the participatory approach used in developing the groups whilst the Lancet article studies their effects.
Recommended reading
- Making childbirth safer through promoting evidence-based care
- ( The Global Health Council , 2002)
- Recommended reading
- Every year thousands of mothers and babies die or are permanently injured during childbirth. Too often the care they receive is inappropriate, yet frequently the practices used by birth attendants ha...
- Cost effectiveness analysis of strategies for maternal and neonatal health in developing countries
- ( T. Adam; S.S. Lim; S.| Mehta / British Medical Journal , 2005)
- This paper examines the costs and benefits of interventions for maternal and newborn health in developing countries. The analysis includes 21 interventions which target the health related Millennium ...
- Accelerating progress towards achieving the MDG to improve maternal health: a collection of promising approaches
- ( G. Nanda; K. Switlick; E. Lule / Health, Nutrition and Population Division, Human Development Department, World Bank , 2005)
- Recommended reading
- This discussion paper, produced by the World Bank Health, Nutrition, and Population department, examines some approaches that have been used to improve maternal health around the world, drawing on fie...
Latest Additions
- Delivering the continuum of care for mothers, babies and children
- ( K.J. Kerber;J.E. De Graft-Johnson;Z.A. Bhutta / The Lancet , 2007)
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This article from The Lancet revisits the idea of a ‘continuum of care’ for mothers, children and newborns. The term, often used as a slogan, usually refers to continuity of individual ...
- The Indonesian village midwife programme dramatically reduced socioeconomic inequalities in professional attendance at birth
- ( L. Hatt;C. Stanton;K. Makowiecka / Bulletin of the World Health Organization : the International Journal of Public Health , 2007)
- This article in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, assesses whether the strategy of “a midwife in every village” in Indonesia achieved its aim of increasing professional delive...
